Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 vs Google Nexus 7 2013 – Tablet Comparison

The Google Nexus 7 tablet got a refresh in hardware, with the second generation model that just came out. Many people these days are not just buying a 7 inch tablet to play games or watch movies, but use it as an e-reader. There are many advantages in going with a full color display, such as to read magazines, comics, replica newspapers or even reading apps, like Pulse. Today, we compare the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 and Google Nexus 7 2 in real world tests.

The Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7 features a seven inch IPS display with 1,280 x 800 pixels. It offers an amazing viewing experience and the ability to watch 720p movies right on the unit. Underneath the hood is a 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP4460 processor and 1 GB of RAM, which makes accessing media, books, and other content very fast and easy.

One of the best aspects of this model is the fact that it has twin stereo speakers with Dolby Surround Sound technology. It is seriously the loudest tablet I have ever used! The speakers themselves are on the back of the unit, but creep up the left and right sides. Even if the Kindle Fire HD is lying flat on its back, you still get amazing sound. When we conducted tests with the Kobo Arc, Playbook, iPad 3, and Acer Iconia A100, the Fire blew them all away. Sounds are clear and crisp whether you are listening to music, video, or audiobooks. It rivaled cheap external PC speakers in its ability to make the whole room swim in music. If you are a serious audiophile, this tablet is the device to beat for tablet audio functionality.

The Google Nexus 7 second generation features a 7 inch full color touchscreen with a resolution of 1920 x 1200 pixels. This blows away most other tablets on the market, including the Kindle Fire HD 7 (1280 x 800 pixels) or the iPad Mini (1024 x 768 pixels.) If you watch HD videos or play really good games, you will notice an increase in screen quality. You get a solid boost in audio performance, with a speaker at the top of the bezel and one on the bottom. If the tablet is laying on a solid surface, you will still get great audio quality.

Google decided against an Nvidia Tegra chip in the 2013 model, and instead did business with Qualcomm and their Snapdragon processor. The decision mainly went to a faster 1.5 quad core, which obviously can handle anything you throw at it. There is also 2 GB of Ram, which is double what the first model had.

Over the course of this video comparison, we go over the overall e-Reading experience. It is important that we compare these two devices and see how they handle comics, newspapers, magazines, and eBooks. Finally, we wrap it up and run some video and audio tests. Sometimes with tablets, its not the specs written down on paper, but how do they really perform in real world conditions. We seek to really go in-depth with this comparison.

Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times.